Loyalists admit killing man in sectarian attack

The Ulster Freedom Fighters admitted responsibility last night for the murder of a Catholic man in the early hours of yesterday, calling the killing a "measured military response".

The attack on Gerard Lawlor, 19, who was killed as he walked home from a pub, followed the shooting of two other men by loyalist and republican gunmen in Belfast.

The UFF, a cover name for the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association, admitted the attack on Mr Lawlor in a statement that threatened further sectarian violence amid rising tensions between the two communities.

The UFF/UDA, whose ceasefire has already been declared void by the Government, said: "Last night the onslaught against the Protestant community by the republican gunmen was met with a measured military response. We warn republicans that further attacks on our community will be met with military action."

Jane Kennedy, the security minister in the Northern Ireland Office, condemned the statement, describing it as a "pathetic attempt to justify sordid sectarian murder".

John Reid, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, warned of further tragedies if the political process was handed back to the paramilitary leaders and a cycle of tit-for-tat murders ensued.

Mr Lawlor, who lived with his parents and four brothers, was shot several times as he walked along Antrim Road, a few hundred yards from his home. He was preparing to set up home with his girlfriend and 18-month-old son. Sharon Lawlor, the mother of the dead man, said she would pray for his killers and appealed for no revenge attacks.

The shootings began at about 7pm on Sunday evening when a 19-year-old Protestant man was hit in the groin as he stood in Glenbryn Park in Ardoyne, close to the site of last year's loyalist picket at Holy Cross school. The man was "stable" in hospital.

Shortly after that attack, a Catholic man was shot in the thigh in the nationalist Oldpark area. The shootings followed a series of violent clashes in Belfast over the weekend.

Mr Reid will make a statement to Parliament tomorrow about paramilitary violence in the province.

Pat Convery, an SDLP councillor, said the murder was the inevitable result of growing sectarian trouble in the area. "People are more and more hell-bent on carrying out attacks," he said. "I don't know how we are going to get out of this spiral."